Vanderbilt Basketball Mail Bag #3

So, on December 23, I posted the Vanderbilt Basketball Mail Bag Call for Submissions, and I actually wrote this:

I’m extending the time table a bit since I’ll be out of town for Christmas the next few days. I might not be able to get this up until next weekend, but go ahead and give us your best questions.

LOL, yep. I’m now posting this on January 2, a full ten days since the call for submissions. But you asked your questions, and now, I answer them.

Question from ComestippleSacksoun:

I’d love to see predicted conference records from the folks who answer these, with specific mention of the games you think we win.

Question from Volundore:

As #SECBasketballFever raged in the last 7-10 days (what up, Utah/Utah State/Cincinnati/ETSU/New Mexico State?!), did your opinion of Vanderbilt’s possible place in the conference pecking order change at all?

Tom Stephenson: So, I had already decided that Vanderbilt is probably better than Texas A&M. I mean, seriously, look at what the Aggies have done to date: 6-5, with losses to Gonzaga (acceptable), Harvard (meh), Temple (THEIR HETS ARE WET), Fairfield (LOL), and Texas (sure), and they also beat Louisiana-Monroe by 6, Troy by 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by 3, and Texas Southern by 3. And, somehow, Oregon State by 15. Seriously, Texas A&M is ass. Vanderbilt is probably at least 13th in the conference.

As far as predicting a conference record? I think the final record will be 5-13, and I’ll call the wins as Texas A&M, THEM, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, all at home.

Question from VandyImport:

Why are the depicted uniforms not our ONLY UNIFORM NOW

Tom Stephenson: The uniforms he refers to are the 1960s throwbacks that I call the Clyde Lee or, if you prefer, the Perry Wallace, and they’re everything that modern uniforms are not: simple and to the point. With that said, the one knock I have against them is that there is not any gold in them. (The biggest positive: there is no gray, either.) I do have to say, aside from the gray in the football uniforms, the worst trend of the past couple of years is the de-emphasis of gold in Vanderbilt athletic uniforms. Like, what part of black and gold is bad as a color scheme? Get to the point, and give me the gold.

Question from Andrew VU ‘04:

Now that Utah has waived Jeff Green, where will his travels take him next?

Tom Stephenson: ISWYDT. In all seriousness, Jeff Green was waived on December 24, it’s currently January 2, and nobody else has picked him up. He’s 33 years old and I have to think this is the end.

Question from parlagi:

Let’s say they beat Columbia (who’s not a pushover) and reach 10-3 heading into SEC play.

Vandy appears to be better than Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss, and probably Florida. Alabama, Georgia, and Vandy look pretty equal. The top 6 teams all look pretty good.

Say WBB goes 6-10 in conference (9th place finish), 16-13 overall. Is that enough progress, or is Vanderbilt coach hunting in March?

Tom Stephenson: Ah, a women’s basketball question! The big thing to always remember with women’s basketball is that it’s not the revenue driver that football or men’s basketball is, so there’s nowhere close to the same level of urgency with it. It’s not quite on the level of the Olympic or country club sports, but if the program isn’t actively embarrassing to Vanderbilt, you probably won’t see a change. So, yeah, 16-13 probably gets Stephanie White another year.

Question from stringfolk:

Where do we go for the most effective post play for the rest of the season? Clevon has obviously demonstrated improved play from last year. Disu is coming along but not sure about SEC competition. Do we just run 4 guards and Clevon most of the time?

Tom Stephenson: Clevon hasn’t been seen since the Liberty game on December 14. and if that persists, we’re probably looking at a rotation of Disu and Ejike Obinna with the occasional sprinkling of “Weird Oton” Jankovic. And per Ken Pomeroy’s lineup data, over the last five games the most frequently used player at the 4 has been... Aaron Nesmith, followed by Matthew Moyer, Clevon Brown, and Dylan Disu. So this is basically already what we’re doing most of the time.